Interesting comments on the calendar and the Miami masters by journalist Neil Harman in his book Court Confidential -

He says The Miami Masters two week dates in the calandar are set in stone by an agreement with the ATP that extended for three decades. The deal was made by Miami Masters owner Butch Buchholz in around 1987. Therefore the agreement with the ATP on their dates should expire in 2017.

Agreements are only set in stone until the right offer comes along

I'd honestly like to see the AO move at least a few weeks ahead, Shanghai 1000 and some Aussie/Asian events leading into AO. IW and Miami aren't going anywhere, but what I'd like to see is they both switch to green clay. If they don't switch to green clay, then for God's sake speed up those 2 tournaments, sweet Jesus.

Then the clay season, Madrid isn't going anywhere unfortunately, MC, and Rome, then RG. Hamburg and Stuttgart I think will be changing to grass, and at one point I'd like to see:

Don't make the season so hardcourt heavy for starters. There should at least be a 50-50 split between hardcourt tournaments and natural surface events. Slow hardcourts should be scrapped for good, not only is the tennis boring but the surface is actually very dangerous to the player's health during and after their tennis career, leave the slow part of the season to clay where every event should be very slow, hardcourts should be either medium or fast.

We could start the season with some lead-up events to the AO, played on a medium hardcourt, then a neutral part of the season with 250/500 events on offer on all surfaces - what I mean is this stretch of the season shouldn't be surface heavy, but let players choose between playing hardcourt events, clay events or grass events every/most weeks. Let this stretch of the season go from early February until, say, Mid march, 6 weeks - you can get a good mix of different surfaces, conditions and speeds here.

Then scrap Indian Wells and Miami and start the clay season two/three weeks earlier: scrap Madrid, bring back Hamburg, make Monte Carlo compulsory. The clay should be slow of course, say like the clay in the Spain vs Argentina DC 2011 final. Three Masters, one Slam and some minor events, will see the clay season end at about the first week of June.

After that and until the end of July, grass court season: one (or two) grass Masters, some minor events and Wimbledon of course, 7/8 weeks of grasscourt season. Fast, low bouncing grass of course.

Then in August, minor events the first week, followed by the two Masters, a week rest and the US Open in the first fortnight of September. We could even give another week of warmup events and start the US Open in the second week of September. This stretch of the season should consist of quick/fast (but not lightningly fast) hardcourts.

October and November should be mostly dedicated to the indoor season (6 weeks) of course. We can alternate fast with medium pace indoor courts. 2 Masters here (but scrap Shanghai, horrible event) and the WTF to conclude the season of course.

Just some loose thoughts here

I like these ideas a lot.

07-04-2013 09:52 PM

hewitt2002

Re: ATP-ITF Calendar/Schedule Suggestions, Shorter Season

Interesting comments on the calendar and the Miami masters by journalist Neil Harman in his book Court Confidential -

He says The Miami Masters two week dates in the calandar are set in stone by an agreement with the ATP that extended for three decades. The deal was made by Miami Masters owner Butch Buchholz in around 1987. Therefore the agreement with the ATP on their dates should expire in 2017.

03-29-2013 10:22 PM

Abel

Re: My Calendar Rearrangement

There's no need for a fifth slam. A longer grass season with a 1000 event is the main thing.

03-29-2013 10:04 PM

August

Re: My Calendar Rearrangement

If 5th slam happens, it will most likely be in China. Other possible would be Madrid, IW, or maybe Dubai/Qatar/Abu Dhabi. Only Madrid of those would be on clay, others would be HCs.

And I really don't want a fifth slam, four is enough. If anything, they should increase the profile of WTF to make it the indoor slam, or almost slam-equivalent. They could start from 2000 points for an undefeated champ.

April
April 1-7: Some more clay 250's
April 8-21: Monte Carlo
April 22-28: Barcelona and Romania
April 29-May 5: Estoril and Munich

May
May 6-12: Madrid Masters
May 13-19: Rome Masters
May 20-26: Nice and Dusseldorf
May 27- : Roland Garros

Basically take out 2 weeks of hard court masters, add an extra week to Monte Carlo, plus an extra week which most top players will use as breaks.

In terms of Top Player commitment, they'll all play Indian Wells and Miami, maybe skip Davis Cup, use 1 of the next two weeks to rest (or both), play 2 weeks at Monte Carlo, probably use both of the next two weeks to rest then the regular May schedule.

Events like IW and Miami are ultimately pointless when you think about it. There are two hard court GS titles to be won, 1 on clay and 1 on grass; the whole season should be built around making the preceding events in the run-up to the Slams solely on those surfaces. Why have we had the Aussie Open and then 2 Master Series events after only for us to go onto clay not long after that?

I find the whole tennis calendar very strange.

03-08-2013 10:34 PM

Saberq

Re: What would your ideal ATP calender consist of?

AO surface for every tournament

03-08-2013 10:33 PM

Mark Lenders

Re: What would your ideal ATP calender consist of?

Don't make the season so hardcourt heavy for starters. There should at least be a 50-50 split between hardcourt tournaments and natural surface events. Slow hardcourts should be scrapped for good, not only is the tennis boring but the surface is actually very dangerous to the player's health during and after their tennis career, leave the slow part of the season to clay where every event should be very slow, hardcourts should be either medium or fast.

We could start the season with some lead-up events to the AO, played on a medium hardcourt, then a neutral part of the season with 250/500 events on offer on all surfaces - what I mean is this stretch of the season shouldn't be surface heavy, but let players choose between playing hardcourt events, clay events or grass events every/most weeks. Let this stretch of the season go from early February until, say, Mid march, 6 weeks - you can get a good mix of different surfaces, conditions and speeds here.

Then scrap Indian Wells and Miami and start the clay season two/three weeks earlier: scrap Madrid, bring back Hamburg, make Monte Carlo compulsory. The clay should be slow of course, say like the clay in the Spain vs Argentina DC 2011 final. Three Masters, one Slam and some minor events, will see the clay season end at about the first week of June.

After that and until the end of July, grass court season: one (or two) grass Masters, some minor events and Wimbledon of course, 7/8 weeks of grasscourt season. Fast, low bouncing grass of course.

Then in August, minor events the first week, followed by the two Masters, a week rest and the US Open in the first fortnight of September. We could even give another week of warmup events and start the US Open in the second week of September. This stretch of the season should consist of quick/fast (but not lightningly fast) hardcourts.

October and November should be mostly dedicated to the indoor season (6 weeks) of course. We can alternate fast with medium pace indoor courts. 2 Masters here (but scrap Shanghai, horrible event) and the WTF to conclude the season of course.

Just some loose thoughts here

03-08-2013 10:12 PM

BauerAlmeida

Re: What would your ideal ATP calender consist of?

Remove IW and Miami, clay season stars and finishes earlier. Longer grass season with 2 M1000 on grass.

AO to be medium-slow HC, Us Open fast hard court. Fast grass, but no like in the 90's, more like around the early noughties